My heart is crushed under an oppressive weight that makes it difficult to breathe. I long for the rush of tears to lighten my burden but they love playing truant when beckoned and arrive unbidden when I want to hide extremes of emotion. It is Karva chauth and I am a relatively new widow – a pale shadow of a woman amongst the glittering bride-like bejeweled females decked up to the hilt. They flutter around like so many butterflies while…..

On the threshold of Independence day I sit back and ask myself what have we, the people of India achieved in these 70 years. What amazes me is the dichotomy in our progress. For every step forward, we have taken one backwards and yet, to my surprise, our great nation rolls forward miraculously in the right direction despite massive speed breakers like corruption and religious intolerance. The contrariness of the Indian mindset stares you at your face everywhere you look……

FREEDOM Why do eagles wheel over The ramparts of Red Fort? Why do vultures perch In patient wait on treetops?Is it over the carcass of ‘Freedom’ That they stake their claim? Surely she can’t be dead yet, Though she lies in a sorry state. For, Terrorists take liberties with life, Politicians with their chairs. Gamblers freely stake her…..

I sat on the terrace savouring the most tranquil hour of my day. A mug of tea by my side sent up tendrils of steam as I reminisced about the past. Echoes reverberated in my subconscious bringing into focus bitter sweet memories. I relived them with a tear in my eye and a smile on my lips till I realised that I was getting late for work. I had to put on a brisk manner along with my crisp cotton…..

PCOS – polycystic ovarain syndrome also called Pee COS by some. Are you an overweight teenager with thinning scalp hair but facial hair, pimples and a poor sense of self worth? Are you a married woman with delayed/scanty periods desperate for a baby but unable to conceive? Are you in your early forties and have already developed diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol when you mother got it in her late fifties? All the three presentations are of the same…..

Before the gaurakhshaks or cow vigilantes cruelly lynch or hang another human being to prevent cow slaughter, I would like to ask them to pause and ponder. Pause to ask themselves one question – how do they and their Hindu brethren look after their gau mata for whom they resort to manslaughter without compunction? Ponder over the state they are kept in by those who revere them. They are abandoned on roads making the area accident prone? Cars have…..

What does a mother mean to a son? In the womb – she is his universe, the reason for his existence and sustenance, without whom, he cannot survive. As an infant – she is his world. From the ambrosia of her breasts he draws nourishment; in the cradle of her arms he finds security and with her tender, loving care, he grows healthy and strong. As a toddler – she is his anchor as he makes forays into independence. He…..

Endless are the messages one receives on the virtues of a smile and yet, there are smiles and there are smiles. I do not know if there is a subject called ‘smilology’ but over the years I have become a fairly good interpreter of smiles. A genuine smile is rather rare in modern times. The smiles given at hotels, on planes by hosts and air hostesses are mechanical – a part of their job. The smile of a corporate/showroom employee…..

Some time back I developed an intriguing (pen) friendship with a stranger in England. It began with his appreciation of my book published by HarperCollins. His wife had presented it to him while he was on dialysis, awaiting a kidney transplant. He vowed that it was the funniest book he had read and wanted to send me a laptop as a token of appreciation! I was mighty pleased. The book ‘AFTERNOON GIRL – my Khushwant memoir’ was indeed a hilarious,…..

This is no sci fi. Babies can be kept in deep freeze for years, their development deliberately halted in the embryonic stage, till the mother is ready to get them implanted in her womb. Incredible but true! This story began about 12 years ago when a couple fell in love and got married at the age of 25 years. Though an ideal age to start a family, like most modern couples, they decided to wait for the usual reasons…..